Raven's Missing Years
by BethNoz16
Summary: In Washington D.C., 1973, Raven comes to a crossroad. Deciding she isn't keen on genocidal fearmongering or naive idealism, she goes on to form her own path. Unfortunately, that path starts with kidnapping someone and just seems to go downhill from there. (First chapter isn't great, second chapter is slightly better).
1. Prologue

When Raven rescued Logan, she had found herself at something of a cross roads. Standing there in a boat on the Potomac, wearing an army man's, Stryker's, face, surrounded by soldiers, Raven realised that, for once in her life, she had no idea what to do next.

For the longest time, Raven had followed other people around, listened to their ideas and obeyed their orders, mainly Charles and Erik, mostly Erik, even while he'd been imprisoned, all of her actions had been misguided attempts to follow the creed that he had provided her with. The same creed that had allegedly doomed all of humanity and mutant kind alike. Gazing down at the man who had apparently been trying to stop that future, Raven realised that it was time for her to carve her own path. And that her path did not involve genocide and fearmongering or wide eyed idealism and naivety. No, her path involved something different.

She just wasn't sure what yet. Either way, Logan would probably be useful, whatever she chose to do next.

"Let's get him secured and loaded up in to the truck boys." She spat in Stryker's voice, trying her best to channel the disgust she'd seen in his eyes when the soldier had seen her true form back in Vietnam. It wasn't easy, naturally. Ever since she had become Mutant And Proud, Raven had found it increasingly difficult to be disgusted by any mutations. Living with a red skinned teleporter with a tail would do that to a person. Plus, she remembered with horrid clarity the disgust on Charles's face that night in the mansion, that had almost mirrored their first meeting so well, and how much it had hurt that her brother would look at her that way ( _that Hank would look at me that way_ ), that she had resolved long ago to never allow any mutant to feel the way she had felt ( _inferior, hideous, weak_ ).

When they reached the shore, Logan was secured to a metal gurney, restrained with leather cuffs around his wrists and ankles, and wheeled in to the back of an inconspicuous blue van. The gurney was attached to the floor of the van with…Well, Raven wasn't actually sure how the gurney had been attached, as she had been too busy keeping a watchful eye on Logan.

He'd awakened on the boat, his eyes opening as he glanced around in confusion, but he hadn't made an effort to escape yet, which was fantastic. That meant he was a strategist, a planner, just like Raven had hoped. The man was biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to break his bonds and escape. Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to. Even from where she was stood, a good ten feet away from the back of the van, she could see him flexing the muscles in his arms, testing the bindings there. She hoped they would be strong enough to get him where they were going.

Soon enough, Logan had been secured and Stryker's goons were ready to set off. As one of them closed the doors, obscuring Logan from view, Raven knocked the other one out with a quick hit to the temple with the butt of her gun. When Goon Number One turned around, she dispatched him in the same way. Certain they were down for the count ( _They aren't dead at least, so Charles could be happy about that, wherever the Hell he is._ ), Raven tied their wrists and ankles with bandages from the first aid kit on the boat and dumped them beneath the nearest bridge, taking both their wallets for good measure. Then, she jumped in the front of the van ( _whichever of those idiots left the keys in the ignition deserved to be tied up and left under a bridge_ ) and began to drive.

She drove for over four hours, but only because she wanted to be well past Westchester when they stopped for the night. It wouldn't do to have Charles turn up and mess everything up in the middle of the night. And that was his style, after all, appearing out of nowhere and fucking things up, even if said things hadn't been exactly planned out perfectly yet. She pulled in to the parking lot of an unpleasant looking all-night motel (she would have driven for longer, but really, stopping an assassination and then kidnapping a guy had pretty much taken it out of her for the day) and switched in to her Raven-face.

She slipped round the back of the van and prayed Logan was still in his restraints. She'd seen those claws. There was very little chance of her winning a fight against those. She opened the back doors, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was looking out for her. Logan lifted his head and stared at her blearily, looking half conscious. She guessed that almost drowning could do that to a person. She stared back at him, unsure of what to say. Eventually, because the silence was becoming too much to bare, she just blurted the first thing that popped in to her head. Unfortunately, that also happened to be one of the most embarrassing things she'd ever said too.

"So, bone claws, huh? That's a really groovy mutation!"


	2. Introductions (Logan)

Logan stared at her, mouth hanging half open, eyes narrowed. Then,

"What the fuck did you just say to me?"

Still cringing, although she was managing to do it internally now, Raven took another step forward, cursing her stupid, dumbass brother with everything she could muster. Hopefully she was thinking it loud enough that he could hear the sentiment, no matter where he was. She knew he always kept tabs on her, if he could. Never read her mind though, so there was that. Another step towards Logan, who was watching her warily, like a caged animal.

'Though I suppose that's what he is.' She thought, eyeing his hands. The claws weren't out yet, but they could make an appearance so easily, slice through her skin so easily.

"I just meant…Well, it's cool, that's all. I've never seen anything like it." He was still watching her like a cornered dog. "Like you." She amended after a moment.

He didn't answer and silence stretched between them, long and uncomfortable. Raven had finally worked up the courage to start unbuckling his wrists and was less than an inch away from touching the straps when Logan finally spoke.

"What happened to the men that put me in here? The soldiers?" She'd jerked away when he'd spoke, the deep rumble of his voice unsettling her somewhat, but when she glanced at his face, Raven saw that some of his hostility had melted a little and was looking more like curiosity.

"I took them out." He chuckled and Raven felt herself bristling. It wasn't just that his laugh was a rather unpleasant sound, it was that she could tell that he didn't believe her. "Don't laugh, I did."

"Yeah, OK darlin' and I'm the King of France." Raven went back to unbuckling his wrists, eyes narrowed.

"France doesn't have a king." She said after a moment. "They had a revolution."

"Yeah, I know." Groused Logan, rolling his eyes. "That's why I ain't king of it."

"That, and you're not French." He chuckled again, and it was just as unpleasant as the first time.

"Darlin', you don't know what I am." Raven leant over his chest and began to unbuckle his other wrist.

"I know you're a mutant. And I know you're a good person, otherwise my brother wouldn't have worked with you." At that, Logan's brows furrowed.

"Who's your brother?" Raven let out an amused little huff through her nose as she fiddled with the overly-complicated restraints.

"Charles Xavier. I thought he would've mentioned that I was his sister, seeing as how he convinced you to come to Paris to rescue me and all. Maybe he found it too embarrassing." She laughed a little, then, doing her best Charles impression (well, her second best Charles impression) said "'Aaaah, my sister is going to besmirch my good family name, I must rescue my evil boyfriend and prevent this.'" Logan stared at her like she was a crazy person.

"Darlin', I don't mean to be rude or nothin' but I got no fuckin' idea who you're talkin' about." Frowning, Raven stepped back as Logan sat up, arms now free, and began to untie his legs.

"C'mon, my brother? Charles? You flew to Paris with him?" At Logan's blank stare, Raven began to wonder if maybe he'd got brain damage from drowning in the Potomac. After another second of staring at each other, Raven sighed and shifted in to Charles face. Logan's brows nearly hit his hairline as he stared at her.

"Well." He said, brows still raised, the corners of his mouth upturned, just a little. "That's pretty groovy." That shocked a laugh from her. From what she'd seen of Logan, he didn't really seem the humour type. Although he was clearly amused by her power

("Can you do me?" He asked when she shifted back, and she'd grinned widely and winked.

"Maybe later.") Raven was pretty concerned about the lack of recognition when it came to Charles.

"What about Hank? Do you remember Hank?" He shrugged, swinging his legs off the gurney.

"You're gonna hafta be more specific, Darlin'. I know a couple'a Hanks." She shifted in to Hank's human form first, but when that was met with another blank stare, she shifted in to his beast form. Logan's eyes widened. It was clearly surprise though, not recognition.

"Think I'd remember a guy like that, Darlin'." He paused, running a hand through his hair and wincing at what he found there. Probably blood, Raven decided, seeing as how Erik had apparently impaled him pretty viciously (and man, he had been a nightmare to get off those spikes, thanks Erik for, as always, being an inconsiderate asshole). "So, what the Hell've I been up to with these guys that I don't remember?" She shifted back and sighed, leaning against the side of the van.

"Well, I don't know the whole story, but I know that you flew to Paris to rescue me from Trask and some army guys." OK, so that's maybe not how Charles would tell it, but Charles wasn't there, so he could suck it. Suddenly, at the thought of Trask and Stryker, Raven remembered something that she had completely forgotten over the course of the past few frantic days. "Actually, you had this weird sort of episode, like you saw the army guy, Stryker, the guy whose face I was wearing when I saved you-"

"I think you actually kidnapped me."

"Don't interrupt!" She snapped, glaring at him. Logan, the asshole, had the nerve to look amused at that. God, maybe she should have left him with the army men. "Anyway, you fell over and you started yelling and holding your head like you were in pain and asking where you were and stuff." At this, something in Logan's eyes sparked. Raven stood up at little straighter. "Do you remember something?"

"Yeah, I remember that guy, the scruffy one, your brother, I remember him telling me I was on a really bad trip." He paused, considering something. "I'm guessing I wasn't on a trip, huh?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, I figured. It'd hafta be a fuckin' strong drug for it to affect me, anyhow."

"'Cos of your healing thing, right?"

"My healing factor, yeah. So, how long do you think I was with your brother and his hairy pal?" Raven almost snapped at him again for talking about Hank like that, but held her tongue. After all, Hank deserved every bit of criticism he got after what he'd said to her. She leant back against the wall, thinking carefully.

"Well, you had to break Erik out of the Pentagon, plus you had to plan it, and then you had to fly to France and go to the Peace Summit, and then you had to fly back to America, probably go back to Westchester, and then drive to Washington and stop Magneto, so I guess four or five days, maybe at the minimum."

Logan, who had looked more and more concerned the longer Raven had gone on, stared at her before shaking his head.

"There are going to be some seriously pissed off people wandering around New York looking for me." Raven shrugged, examining her nails.

"There are seriously pissed off people looking for me all over the world." Logan went back to staring at her again, eyes narrowed, clearly wondering how much shit she could be in and if he should be getting involved.

"What'd you do?"

"What'd you do?" She countered, fixing him with the look that Charles had always said was her 'tell me or I'll rip your hair out'-look.

"Was meant to be guarding the daughter of this gangster. I slept with her. Then, from the sounds of it, upped and left." Raven nodded wisely, she understood. Well, she understood sleeping with people she shouldn't then leaving as soon as possible anyway. That often left a sour taste in people's mouths. "And you?" Logan questioned when she didn't immediately volunteer the information.

"I stopped the assassination of President Nixon by a mutant terrorist." There was a slight pause in the conversation as Logan processed this. "You know, if you leave your mouth open long enough, you'll start catching flies." She could remember both Sharon and Charles saying that to her when she was younger, and she could remember sticking her tongue out at their backs when they turned around. Somehow, she didn't think Logan would be doing that when she turned around. He was scowling though, which was an improvement on staring at least. She didn't think she should tell him that his face would stick like that if the wind changed though.

"You? You stopped a terrorist attack? On the President of the United States?" She shrugged modestly.

"It was nothing. Just doing my duty to my country." She couldn't tell if he picked up on the sarcasm or not, he was being frustratingly hard to read, all furrowed brows and frowning. It was bad enough that he was unfairly handsome, but he now had to have a good poker face too? She paused before her mental rant could get started. Had she just thought he was handsome? This hairy, growly man in front of her?

'Charles, if you're in my head, I'll kill you.' She thought as loud as she could, because that was a very whiny Charles-type thought and Raven wasn't at all very happy about having it. Finally, Logan stood up and Raven kicked him across the van.

He landed with a loud 'oof!' against the opposite wall (were they called walls in a van? She wasn't certain), so hard that the van rocked quite violently. He looked up at her, clenching his fists, and snarled "What the fuck was that for?!"

"Just wanted to show you how easily I took out those soldiers." OK, so she was a little bitter about her skills being called in to question…OK, a lot bitter. Plus, it had really just been one of those days when Raven had really wanted to punch something, and this guy could heal right up in less than a minute. "And how easily I could take out you."

For a moment, Logan looked like he was thinking seriously about shish-kebabing her, but then he actually laughed. Well, it was his gravelly chuckle again, but Raven took it as a good sign. "OK Darlin', point made. You kick ass and you got no hesitations about kicking mine. I'll be good." For some reason, Raven didn't feel like this promise was as sincere as it sounded, but she could kick the guy's ass if she really needed to, so she let it go.

"OK then. As long as you know." He nodded, standing again.

"So, you got a plan, or are you an' me just goin' on a roadtrip? 'Cos I know a few people who won't be too happy 'bout that." Raven grinned then, probably a little manically.

"I have a plan. A good one." Well, a half-baked good one, but a good one nonetheless.

"Care to let me in on it?" Shrugging, Raven opened the backdoors and stepped in to the moonlight. It was very late, probably nearing 3 A.M., and the night air was cold. She shivered a little, her fake clothes offering no protection against the night's chilly bite. Logan stepped out beside her and showed no sign of being cold, despite his clothes still being a little damp to touch.

"Yeah, tomorrow. Right now, I want a warm shower and a comfy bed." Logan glanced at the motel she'd pulled up at and snorted.

"Doubt you'll get either of those here, Darlin'." She let out a soft 'hm' and walked purposefully back to the front of the van. From the glovebox, she grabbed the two wallets she'd taken from the soldiers back in Washington and took all the cash that they had in there, which was not much, and turned around in time to catch Logan staring at her ass. Sighing deeply, Raven made her way over to the man and grabbed the collar of his leather jacket. She pulled his face close to hers and smiled like Erik, which meant showing an unnerving amount of teeth and widening her eyes a little to look slightly psychotic.

"OK Logan, two things: One, if I ever catch you staring at my ass again, as magnificent as it is, I will rip your balls off." He raised his eyebrows and nodded once. "And two, don't call me Darlin'. My name's Raven." She shoved him back and he stumbled a little in the gravel of the parking lot. Then he looked up at her and grinned.

"Nice to meet ya, Raven. Somethin' tells me we're gonna get along."


End file.
